THERESA SHERRY fell in love with Marin during summer vacations as a kid. Now she's trying to get the area to return the favor and fall in love with lacrosse.

Sherry, in her first year at the helm of the Cal women's lacrosse team, was named coach of the year in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation on May 3. She led the Bears to a 9-9 overall record, an improvement over the last two years, though Cal did falter in the postseason, placing fourth in the MPSF tournament that it hosted.

"We needed a culture change on and off the field, and it was my focus to really try to bring passion back to the program," Sherry said. "The girls were having fun and were a little more creative this year, and I think that will help us in the win column down the road."

Sherry, who grew up in Baltimore and played lacrosse in college at Princeton, still has close ties to Marin. Her father, Paul, was a boxer from Ross who once fought Sugar Ray Leonard and her mother, Janet Sherry-Rue, still lives in Terra Linda.

Sherry plans to use her local ties to help continue to build the sport in the area. One of the places lacrosse is gaining popularity most quickly is in Marin, where Sherry puts on coaching clinics and youth camps.

"There are some solid teams in the area," she said. "Redwood is always good and MC has a pretty nice team. The other schools can compete too. It's all about getting out and finding those diamonds in the rough."

Many of those diamonds are coming out of the rough at the summer camps and on the Cal Elite club team that Sherry coaches. She has pursued several local players, including Redwood High's Dominique Christianson.

"She's fantastic for the girls that go over there," Giants coach Kendra Mesa said. "It's the best coaching in the state over there. Honestly, she has probably done more to build our program than I have."

On campus

- San Francisco State's Anna Bretan, a graduate of Novato, will compete at the NCAA Division II track championships at Mount San Antonio College in Walnut from May 22-24. Bretan has already earned All-California Collegiate Athletic Association honors after placing first at the conference meet on May 2 in the 5,000-meter run in a time of 17 minutes, 40.87 seconds and finishing as the runner-up in the 3,000 in 10:08.35.

Bretan will compete in only the 5K at Mt. SAC and try to crack the top 12 in the preliminaries which would put her in Saturday's finals. Her qualifying time is 17:18.06, less than five seconds behind the 12th-place qualifier.

"My big goal is to be able to qualify for the finals," Bretan said. "It will definitely be competitive. I'm really excited about it."

Bretan attended the University of San Francisco and graduated, but ran only two years there, leaving her with another year and a half of eligibility at San Francisco State as she pursues a second bachelor's degree in holistic health.

"She's been great to have on the team," said San Francisco State coach Tom Lyons, a former track coach at Redwood. "She's a real role model for the younger athletes. She has really lowered her time this spring. ? She hadn't been under 18 minutes before this spring and now it seems like she sets a personal best whenever she sets foot on the track."

- Drake graduate Kramer Winingham received the 2008 Spring Athletic Council Outstanding Scholar-Athlete award on May 9 at a graduation celebration reception at New Mexico State. Winingham, a linebacker who hails from San Anselmo, majored in finance and graduated with a 3.909 grade-point average. He started three games at middle linebacker and played in all 13 games of the 2007 season. Winingham collected 37 tackles, two tackles for a loss and a forced fumble.

- Kenny Simmons, a senior on Oregon Tech baseball team, was named to the Cascade Collegiate Conference first team and also won a Gold Glove in the conference at catcher. Simmons, who resides in Novato and attended San Marin High, started in 40 of the 47 games for the Hustlin' Owls, who finished the season 22-30.

- Former Novato quarterback Andrew Strom was named Hobart College's most valuable player offensive player at the team's awards banquet in late April after breaking Hobart season records for completions (216), completion percentage (65.1), passing efficiency (159.5) and total offense (3,171 yards). Strom also won the Liberty League's offensive player of the year award.